By Tom Breihan on June 27, 2011 at 4:45 p.m. EDT

Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music imprint has a new home. The label has signed a "long-term worldwide label agreement" with Def Jam, according to a press release. The first album to come out under label agreement is Finally Famous, the debut album from Kanye's Detroit protege Big Sean. It hits stores tomorrow, June 28. Below, check out Big Sean's video for "My Last".

By Tom Breihan on October 7, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. EDT

Last month, Nas announced the imminent release of The Lost Tapes, Vol. 2, the sequel to his beloved 2002 outtakes collection. Vol. 2 was supposed to come out on December 14, but some drama between Nas and Def Jam, his label, shows that these guys are not exactly on the same page.

Earlier today, the Lefsetz Letter posted a leaked email that Nas sent to Def Jam executives, blasting the label for allegedly assigning the album a paltry $200,000 promotional budget, refusing to let it count toward his contract, and generally not caring about the album. MTV has confirmed that the email is real.

In the email, which bears the subject line "PUT MY SHIT OUT!", Nas calls himself "NOBODY's slave", calls Def Jam "a RAP label that doesn't understand RAP", and pleads with the label to "stop throwing dog shit on a MAGICAL moment".

Talking to MTV, an unnamed source in Nas' camp says, "It was a personal e-mail. [The leak] wasn't planned. It was not meant to be blasted out in the world, but we're not upset about it."

By Ryan Dombal on September 16, 2010 at 6:15 p.m. EDT

Nas's 2002 collection of outtakes, The Lost Tapes, is one of the Queens rapper's finest moments, so the announcement of The Lost Tapes: Vol. 2 is kind of a big deal. The MC's MC broke the news via Twitter and MTV confirmed the collection is due out December 14.

Furthermore, Nas told MTV he's set to drop a brand new album "before the summer of 2011" and that it may feature production from Wu-Tang mastermind RZA. Make it happen, dudes.

By Tom Breihan on July 30, 2009 at 5:55 p.m. EDT

Big Boi, the half of OutKast who still raps regularly, has been working on Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty, his proper solo debut, for what feels like forever. And now he's left Jive, OutKast's home for the group's entire career, for a new label, Def Jam. So chances seem slightly greater that Sir Luscious Left Foot may actually come out someday. Fingers crossed.

As Big Boitells Toronto's Eye Weekly, the move (still being negotiated legally) just makes sense: "We were just in a situation where we were on LaFace Records and then got switched over to Jive, there was nothing we could say about it. They're a great label that do certain types of music, but, I don't know, man. So right now, we've got the lawyers seeing eye to eye at Def Jam and Jive, and then, you know, hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be back over there [at Def Jam] with L.A. Reid, who I started with, and who understands my music."

He also told Eye Weekly that he's been recording a ton of music: "I got music comin' out the ass. Understand that." Among the songs coming out his ass is "Lookin 4 Ya", the track we posted about a few weeks back, which we attributed to Andre 3000. Big Boi claims that the song is actually a one-verse snippet of a Big Boi song that features Andre. So there's more where that came from, hopefully.

Also, Big Boi went to Sea World and hung out with some penguins. The resulting adorable video is totally worth 59 seconds of your time. (Via Nah Right.) Check below.

By Tom Breihan on May 21, 2009 at 5:35 p.m. EDT

Last year, Jay-Z signed a $150 million 360 deal with Live Nation, the company that seemed determined to overspend on deals with every remaining music superstar on the planet (well, before the recession, anyway). When Jay signed that deal, he still owed an album to his old label, Def Jam. But as Rap Radar reported and MTV confirmed today, Jay-Z is now officially off Def Jam, even though that final album never materialized.